Two-step process to produce porous carbon nitrides as efficient photocatalysts to degrades organic pollutants

Abstract

Polymeric carbon nitride (p-C3N4) has shown excellent properties for various reactions as photocatalysts under the irradiation of visible light. This work reports the development of a new route to produce porous carbon nitride materials using two-step process. The process consists of chemical oxidation of p-C3N4 powders and following thermal treatment of the oxidized materials at 610 ℃. The resulting material (oxidized p-C3N4 after thermal treatment, OCN-T) shows an excellent photocatalytic activity for degrading an organic pollutant, rhodamine B (RhB). Under the irradiation of visible light, RhB in aqueous solution is completely removed within 1 hr. Morphological, chemical, and photophysical characterizations reveal that OCN-T contains higher surface areas and visible-light-absorption ability, and longer lifetime of photoexcited charge carriers than control samples. These features reveal that the two-step process is beneficial to produce efficient photocatalysts using visible light.